A tour through the perched villages of Luberon

Our last day in the south of France was spent on an eight hour tour visiting the perched villages of Luberon. Luberon is an area of Provence located south of Marseille and is known for its hilly, picturesque villages, lavender and fennel fields and vineyards. You could spend a couple of days cruising around and visiting all the different villages, each lovely and magical in its own right.

Map of Luberon (credit: Wikipedia)

I have always wanted to visit Luberon ever since I lived in Marseille back in 1994. But I never made it. The only thing I have from this beautiful part of Provence is a framed print sitting inside a spare closet with a beautiful picture depicting the countryside.

Luberon is a special part of Southern France because of its unique topography. Located in the Vaucluse region, Luberon is surrounded by three mountain ranges (the Little, the Big and the Oriental Luberon) which made it a strategic place for building fortified villages perched high along the rocky cliffs. It also is full of lush valleys making this region an agricultural jewel that is perfect for growing brilliant fields of purple lavender and yellow fennel, vineyards and fresh produce that give Provence its nostalgic products.

Getting to Luberon from Marseille is relatively easy. You can rent a car, take a bus or opt for hiring your own driver for the day. We chose the latter as we thought it would be way more fun. Little did we know we would have young, charming “Taxi cab Fred” (short for Frédéric) as our driver. I had inadvertently pictured some old stuffy french guy but alas, Fred was hip, funny and cute. We knew we were in for a fun day ahead.

Gordes, one of the perched villages of Luberon that we would see.

Fred arrived at 8 am sharp raring to go. He had printed out a copy each of our itinerary for the day based on my initial thoughts. He handed the professional looking sheets to us with a smile and we were on our way. First stop would be Lourmarin, known for its quaint beauty and final home of Camus, followed by a visit to Bonnieux, Gordes and finally the red perched village of Roussillon. It was going to be a jam-packed day but we were unbelievably excited. This day would be the best day of our entire trip to France and full of wonderful mother-daughter-sister memories….and giggles.

Stay tuned….I’m trying to play catch up on answering comments and reading blogs but life has been busy. I’m headed to Chicago on Thursday for BlogHe and can hardly wait to see my old pals and meet some new friends. If you are going to be there, please let me know.